The Girl Who Loved You Is Gone

I scowled at Onel and Stella, irritation carved into every line of my face. Could they not see I was busy? I had Oscar to look after.

Stella opened and closed her mouth in flustered silence. Onel's brow had furrowed as well. I paid them no further mind and turned back to Oscar's wounds.

The bleeding's stopped, and the wounds are gone.

"Ugh... over there..."

He was coming around. Thank god. I let out a breath of relief and spoke to Yuis.

"He'll be dizzy. You handle the monsters on the way out."

"Yes."

His speech had gone polite again, now that other people were listening. The moment Yuis addressed me with that careful formality, Oscar seemed to grasp who I was. Unlike Antonio, he was the perceptive type — he quietly slung his arm around Yuis's neck without a word.

We got to our ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠feet. Only then did I glance at Onel.

"Can you walk?"

It was Stella who answered.

"His condition is serious. He needs healing."

"I asked if he could walk."

"He can walk, but..."

"Then walk."

With that, I started toward the door. Stella shot to her feet in a panic.

"You're not going to heal Brother?"

"The deal I made with the Dowager Marchioness was to purify the poison fog and bring you and Onel out. That's all."

"Look at him. His face has gone completely blue. If something happens to him..."

"Then support him properly so that nothing happens, and walk."

Stella's pupils trembled. She looked as though she couldn't believe what she was hearing — not because I was being cold to Onel, but because I refused to heal someone this badly hurt. In her eyes, he must have looked like he was about to drop dead.

He's not, though.

I used to trail after battlefields as a medic's gofer. I'd seen every kind of injury there was. To my eye, he wasn't in mortal danger yet. If he truly took a turn for the worse, I could treat him then.

Healing him now would be dangerous for me.

Mana depletion. I still had to purify our way out of the maze, so I needed to conserve every drop I had. I couldn't take Yuis's mana, either. If anyone found out that mana was my weakness, there was no telling what they'd try.

Tears had begun to well in Stella's doe-like eyes when Onel spoke.

"The poison fog—"

"Stick close behind me. Poison doesn't work near me."

Onel pushed himself up. Stella hurried to support him, and together we stepped through the door.

I purified the poison fog. Yuis cut down every monster that came at us. We walked the maze like that.

Yuis could handle the monsters alone just fine, so how did Onel end up like this?

Onel was strong enough in his own right. Among nobles his age, he stood head and shoulders above the rest. Even renowned knights had fallen to him.

I was still turning that over when we reached the end of the maze. The entrance and the exit were divided by nothing more than a wall; both paths led to the same place — the ceremonial pavilion.

We climbed the stairs. The moment we emerged, the Dowager Marchioness was waiting for us.

"Onel! Good heavens...!"

There was someone standing behind her.

...Marquis Andres.

Oscar had infiltrated House Andres as a mage attached to their monster-cultivation experiments, he said. He'd gotten swept up in this whole affair in the middle of his work. And I was hearing all of this through...

"Caw—."

...a crow.

I'd never seen a crow like this in my life.

"How fascinating."

The moment I muttered it, Yuis spoke up from where he lay face-down on the table.

"It's a chimera."

"Oscar made this?"

"Yeah."

"Can it deliver my messages too?"

"It doesn't just deliver them. It eavesdrops, too."

Incredible. No wonder Andres had taken him in — he was a talent worth recruiting. I watched the crow with genuine curiosity.

"Wouldn't Oscar be a better fit as intelligence captain?"

Yuis's eyes narrowed. He looked thoroughly displeased. Then he propped his chin on one hand.

"He does bring in information I don't have, sometimes. But there's a reason he can't join the intelligence team."

"Why?"

"There's a reason."

"Which is?"

"It's a secret."

I was tilting my head at that when a knock came at the door, followed by the butler's voice.

"His Lordship requests your presence."

It would be about the Holy Land I'd snatched clean away from the Dowager Marchioness. I sent the crow out the window, then left with Yuis.

This time, we were headed for the Marquis's study. As we approached the door, a sharp cry exploded from within.

"You're the one who dragged Onel into this?!"

The Dowager Marchioness. Only after the butler knocked did the room fall silent. Marquis Andres's voice followed.

"Come in."

The door opened. This was the Marquis's private space, so Yuis couldn't enter. I left him in the corridor and went in alone.

The study held more than just Marquis Andres and the Dowager Marchioness. Stella and Onel were there as well. Onel seemed to have received treatment — bandages peeked out from under his clothes.

"Sit."

The members of House Andres had taken their places around a great paulownia-wood table. The Marquis sat at the head. To his right, the Dowager Marchioness. To his left, Stella and Onel. And I sat down in the seat of honor directly across from him.

"...!"

The Dowager Marchioness flinched. Onel let out a dry laugh. The seating made my meaning plain: I had nothing to do with House Andres. The Marquis, however, merely tugged up one corner of his mouth.

"This is the first time I've sat across from you."

"It's hardly strange for an invited guest of honor to sit across from her host."

"A guest of honor, you say. Is that a fitting title for someone who snatched away this family's treasure in a paltry bargain?"

He meant the Holy Land. That taking it had been going too far.

"I don't imagine the heir's life is worth less to you than the Holy Land."

"I hear you didn't even heal Onel."

"But I purified the poison fog and brought him out, didn't I? That was the deal I made with the Dowager Marchioness to begin with."

Stella cut in.

"That was too much, Yustea."

So she was still upset that I hadn't healed Onel. A deep crease formed between her brows, though her face was so dewy and deer-like that it didn't look frightening in the slightest.

"What were you going to do if something happened to Brother?"

"If you were so worried about Onel, you shouldn't have dragged him into the underground maze in the first place."

I'd heard everything from outside. Stella's face went blank with panic.

"That's..."

"And the poison fog means someone provoked a shade rat. Shade rats are docile. They don't attack first. There's no way Onel didn't know that."

House Andres held the greatest breadbasket in the south, which meant people — a great many of them. Monsters targeting the grain and the humans who grew it were a constant plague, so Onel rode out on subjugation campaigns more often than not. A man like that would never have been ignorant of the rule: do not touch a shade rat.

The Dowager Marchioness's face went rigid.

"Stella. Did you provoke the shade rat?"

"I was trying to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠help Brother. I didn't know it was a shade rat, and it was so small I thought I could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠handle it..."

"Just how far do you intend to take this stupidity?!"

Thunder cracked from the Dowager Marchioness's mouth once more. She had every right to be furious. If not for Stella, the poison fog would never have spread — and she would never have had to hand the Holy Land over to me.

Her rage showed no sign of cooling.

"And why did you go into the underground maze to begin with?!"

"..."

"I don't even need to ask. Something looked pitiful to you again, didn't it? Do you have any idea how many incidents you've caused like this over the years? Dozens!"

"That's not it. I heard there was a monster that swallows contamination, so I went to see for myself. The people were suffering...!"

The Dowager Marchioness let out a hollow laugh.

Aigoo.

So she'd fixated on the contamination and nothing else. She should have stopped to consider why the contamination was happening — and what it was for. It had been bait, nothing more. Bait to draw me out.

The Dowager Marchioness's voice turned vicious.

"You're just like your mother. No sense of your place, thinking you can be something you're not."

"Grandmother!"

The moment Emma's name entered the conversation, Stella's face went stiff. The Dowager Marchioness did not back down.

"Just how much more disgrace do you intend to bring upon this house? Word has already spread among the retainers that Onel ended up like that because of you!"

"That's enough, Grandmother."

"You're taking her side? Even looking like that?"

"Stella didn't ask me to. I went down because I was worried."

"Going into the underground maze without permission was the mistake to begin with."

The Dowager Marchioness snapped the words out like a whip. Then Marquis Andres lifted a hand, lightly, and both she and Onel fell silent. He looked at me.

"So you intend to take the Holy Land after all."

"There's a signed contract. There's nothing stopping me."

I said it without a shred of shame. Stella turned to me.

"I'm asking you. The Holy Land is a place we cannot lose."

"And?"

"...What?"

"What does House Andres being unable to lose the Holy Land have to do with me?"

Stella's face froze. I looked at Marquis Andres with no expression at all.

"You all seem to be under a misconception, so allow me to make this perfectly clear. I am no longer a member of House Andres."

"Are you certain you can afford to be so arrogant?"

"I don't care."

I met the Marquis's eyes without flinching.

"Because you no longer have any value to me."

"And why is that?"

"Value only exists when something is precious."

"We aren't precious to you?"

"Well... to be honest..."

I glanced at the empty air, then went on.

The air in the room froze solid.

"I hate breathing the same air as you."

"..."

"When our eyes meet, it feels like insects crawling over every inch of my skin."

"..."

"It makes me want to vomit."

The Dowager Marchioness's face had gone ashen; her mouth opened and closed soundlessly. Onel frowned. Stella looked stunned. I went on as if none of it mattered.

"The Holy Land is not up for negotiation. Family matters are for family to discuss among themselves."

I stood, inclined my head the barest fraction, and left the room without a backward glance.

I felt unburdened.

The Dowager Marchioness hurried after Yustea down the corridor.

"Yustea!"

She caught her by the arm.

"I'll apologize for casting you out."

"...I beg your pardon?"

"This is enough, isn't it? After going this far, you've had your revenge!"

She couldn't believe what she was seeing. The image of a much younger Yustea overlapped with the girl in front of her.

"No matter how coldly I treated you, you never responded like this."

"..."

"I'd scold you, I'd condemn you, and the next day you'd come right back."

"..."

"Family was the only thing in the world that mattered to you!"

Yustea simply looked at her. The Dowager Marchioness fumbled hastily at her necklace.

"This is the one you gave me. I remembered how you wanted to see me wear it, so I put it on."

"So I did."

"From now on, I will treasure your heart."

The Dowager Marchioness took Yustea by the shoulders. For some time now, her heart had stirred whenever she looked at this child. At last, she understood the true name of that nameless feeling.

The little child who would throw both arms wide and hug her first — that child ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠kept rising unbidden in her mind. This feeling... this was regret.

"Yustea..."

Yustea quietly took the Dowager Marchioness's hands in her own. Light kindled in the older woman's eyes. Yes — Yustea had always been a soft-hearted child. If she was reaching out like this, then surely...

Yes. We can go back to the way things were. I'm sure of it.

The Dowager Marchioness's face brightened — and Yustea spoke.

"Don't."

"...What?"

"There's no grandmother left in this heart."

"That..."

Yustea let go of her hands and smiled, faintly. That was the end of it. She never looked back again.

The Dowager Marchioness staggered and caught herself against the window. In that instant, Stella approached.

"Grandmother, don't. Yustea seems to have completely changed..."

A sharp smack rang out as she struck the hand away. The Dowager Marchioness stared at Stella, breathing hard.

"Not you."

"...What?"

"How did I never realize? What was truly precious was already in these hands."

"Grandmother..."

Stella's face went rigid.